GREECE, N.Y. – The Boys and Girls Club is expanding its programming to Greece, hoping to give 6th graders a new option for how they spend their time after school.

The after-school program is open to any 6th grader at Greece Arcadia, free of charge. It’s funded with a five-year grant from the Boys and Girls Club and has been a bit of a passion project for the school’s principal.

At first, McKeegan Coyne wasn’t sure he’d be into it.

“I was like a little nervous cause I’ve never done one of these before, I never stayed after school,” Coyne tells News10NBC.

Coyne is a 6th grader at Arcadia and quickly got over his nerves. He now chooses to stay almost until closing time every night.

“It’s introduced me and to new people…I think it’s really cool cause I can connect with more people, and more people can connect with me,” he says

His mom, Jamie Coyne, loves it.

“The social aspect of it is amazing. He’s hanging out with kids that he might not normally hang out with during the day which I think is great for him, he’s like, ‘Yeah I made a new friend today,’ which is great,” she says.

The 6th graders start with homework and reading every day after school but after that, there’s gaming, sports, arts and crafts, relays, and then dinner.

“We get a lot of parents who work until 5 o’clock and they don’t want their student to be home alone until that time and I don’t blame them,” says Cassidy Osborne, the program director. 

Sixth grade is often a crucial year in a child’s development. They’ve just moved up from elementary school, they’re learning a lot about themselves and who they want to be and it’s crucial to have support and positive role models.

“I think that if we give them a safe place that they can come and just hang out with their peers and they can get that physical activity and they can get all the things that they need instead of going out and hanging out in the streets or at random stores or anything like that if we’re giving them that space then that’s my main goal,” Osborne says.

The program runs from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. every weeknight and the activities change daily.

“We listen to the kids and whatever they want to do as long as it’s reasonable and we can make it happen, I’m going to make it happen,” Osborne says. 

It’s already led to some grateful students and parents.

“He’s a kid I never thought would do clubs, he’s like, ‘No I gotta get home, I gotta hang out with my friends, I gotta be on electronics.’ He’s now stayed after school every single day this week and he’s doing e-sports twice a week, this has been the most amazing transition for him and it’s been great,” Jamie Coyne says.

There’s still room in the program for other 6th graders at Greece Arcadia. Eventually, the district and the Boys and Girls Club are hoping to expand the program to other middle schools and beyond 6^th grade. 

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